James Jordan breaks silence on resurfaced ‘fat-shaming’ video amid Strictly ‘abuse’ allegations
FORMER Strictly Come Dancing pro James Jordan has revealed the ‘real’ story behind a resurfaced clip from 2006.
The dancer has been forced to hit back after a viral clip of him on It Takes Two calling his partner “fat” circulated online.
James told how he has never had complaints from his Strictly co-stars in eight years of being on the show.
Instead he says the comments were made for “entertainment”.
“I strongly suggest that nobody attempts to link this edited BBC VT with the current alleged reports of abusive behaviour taking place behind the scenes by other Strictly professionals,” James wrote in a statement on Instagram.
“There is no comparison to be drawn between those awful allegations and the highly produced and exaggerated VT from the BBC archives that is featuring on social media.
“To be clear, I deplore bullying or abusiveness in the workplace.”
The professional dancer joked about “having had hair once” as he reflected on the clip from 18 years ago.
He added: “But I just wanted to reassure you that footage was shot and edited together by the BBC team for transmission on It Takes Two 18 years ago in specific ways for the purposes of ENTERTAINMENT.
“Many of the clips were not related to Georgina at all (they are not allowed to do that these days as it misrepresents what actually happened) but were included for the purpose of exaggeration.
“The BBC thought it would be fun to put this VT together in the way they did. You can see Georgina laughing about it in the studio and in the clips… And I have never received ANY complaints from any of my celebrity dance partners in the 8 years I was on the show.
“Obviously if I had genuinely upset anyone, that footage would NEVER have been allowed to be used in that way by the BBC themselves.
“The Producers loved to paint me as the bad guy and I played along…always a perfectionist …but I would never have deliberately upset anyone and pride myself on good friendships with my celebrity dance partners.”
James and Georgina Bouzova were paired up together for the pro dancer’s first stint on Strictly.
The footage of them arguing in rehearsals aired on It Takes Two after they became the fourth James couple to be eliminated.
Strictly back track - Susannah Constantine
SUSANNAH Constantine has rowed back on her support for Graziano Di Prima - but what happened?
The What Not To Wear anchor uploaded a message of support for the Italian on her Instagram page.
It came after the allegations of “physical incidents” with his former dance partner Zara McDermott were revealed.
Susannah, 62, who was partnered with Anton du Beke on the show in 2018, posted in support of Graziano on Instagram statement after he issued his own statement.
She wrote: “What the hell??? You were always so sweet, kind, funny an thoughtful to me Graziano.
“Be true to yourself. Cream always rises to the top. Loads of love xxxxx.”
Now the BBC star has deleted the message after a slew of fan complaints.
It has resurfaced after Graziano Di Prima was sacked for misconduct and Giovanni Pernice left the show under investigation.
In the video, Georgina tells the camera “[James] thinks I’m a bit of a porker” after James shouted: “Come on chubby.”
After being “caught” eating, Georgina is next seen doing sit ups with James shouting: “Come on, come on.”
As she struggles to pull herself up, James scolds: “Put your hands on your temples you lazy cow. Come on fat belly.”
Host Claudia Winkleman pulled James up on his “antics” on It Takes Two after they’d been booted out the competition – but he was defended by Georgina.
“He is lovely and we’ve had such a laugh, we really have,” she insisted.
“Every day I’ve had training with him I’ve giggled all day… well, except when we’ve been fighting obviously.”